The Standlake Birder -

Rufous Motmot   For these two days of our adventure we were based at Selva Verde lodge where the bird feeders delivered the avian smorgasbord of delights that we had rapidly become accustomed to.  Our prebreakfast visit to the feeders produced perhaps the best views we had of Toucan on the whole trip with Yellow Throated  and Keel-billed making multiple visits to the feeders. We were all amused by their comical  habit of slowly rotating their heads from side to side when they landed. We speculated that their enormous bill, evolved for cracking hard fruit, meant that they could only do a visual safety check before feeding by rotating their head! Tanagers and Honeycreepers were ever present feeding on the soft fruit provided by the staff. Black-cheeked Woodpeckers also gave wonderful views as they came into feed on the bountiful goodies on offer.            Keel-billed Tocan      Yellow-throated Toucan   ...

      Shining Honey Creeper After a restful nights sleep at Punta Leona we met Paco for our usual early morning walk around the grounds. The highlight of which for me was Paco finding a baby Fer-de-lance snake trying to eat a frog which seemed much too large for it. It was extremely well camouflaged in the leaf litter, only being obvious when it moved, a bit problematic given its reputation!   The fer-de-lance snake, also known as the Terciopelo and Barba amarilla in Spanish, is the most dangerous venomous snake in central America and really is something you do not want to mess with. They can weigh up to 6 kilograms and are often 1.2 to 1.8 meters in length.    Here is a description I found of what happens if you get  bitten by one.   “Bite symptoms include pain, oozing from the puncture wounds, local swelling that may increase for up to 36 hours, bruising that spreads from the bite site, blisters, numbness, mild fever, headache, bleeding fro...